David Cameron 'wrong' on Mediterranean migrants, says Amnesty
Amnesty International has said the Prime Minister David Cameron was ‘completely wrong' to say at Prime Minister’s Questions that ‘the vast majority of Mediterranean migrants are not asylum-seekers’, in answer to a question about the UK’s refusal to take part in an EU refugee quota system on the issue. Amnesty’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director Steve Symonds said, ‘At least half of those risking their lives in the Mediterranean are fleeing persecution in places like Syria, Eritrea and Somalia’. Amnesty and other monitoring groups have said that the single largest group by nationality attempting the Mediterranean crossing in recent months have been people from war-torn Syria, nearly all of whom will be internationally-recognised refugees. The next single largest group comprises Eritreans - with the great majority of these also very likely to be refugees (see also article 7 in Prayer Alert World Section).
Trumpet Call on 4 July
Numbers 10:9 says, ‘When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy that is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.’ From that and other scriptures we see that the sounding of trumpets were for gathering the people, moving the people, calling the people to war and celebrating all that God had done. We, God’s Church, are ambassadors of Christ and on Saturday 4July we will stand together at the INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE in Birmingham in unity and SEEK THE FACE OF GOD that He would, in response to our repentance and prayers of faith, hear our cry, have mercy and pour out His Spirit on our land. Readers of Prayer Alert are invited to come, if they are able, and pray. There’s nothing more powerful than when saints pray and seek God’s Kingdom, standing in the gap for the lost. (2 Chronicles 7:14) Please join us for a historic gathering of believers from across the UK crying out for a transformative move of God.
Eritrea: Human rights abuses - crimes against humanity?
A UN report accuses the Eritrean government of extrajudicial executions, torture, national service and forced labour that create a climate of repression driving many to flee. It catalogues a litany of human rights violations by the ‘totalitarian’ regime of President Isaias Afwerki on a scope and scale seldom witnessed elsewhere. The government uses imprisonment, forced disappearance, surveillance and censorship to create a culture of permanent fear and crush all dissent. The year-long study, which was carried out without the cooperation of the Eritrean government, is based on first-hand testimony gathered through 550 confidential interviews with witnesses in third countries and 160 written submissions. After Syrians, Eritreans were the most common nationality to arrive on European shores, comprising 22% of all people entering Italy by boat last year. Faced with a seemingly hopeless situation they feel powerless to change, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans are fleeing their country.
Nigeria: Violence follows recent elections
Horrific violence has followed the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari in May, as Boko Haram militants attacked the city of Maiduguri, capital of Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state and birthplace of the Islamist insurgency group Boko Haram. Gunfire and explosions reverberate through the city and scores have been left dead. ‘We don’t know what happens next,’ a church leader told Barnabas. ‘Pray for the believers in the city of Maiduguri. Pray for God’s special intervention.’ On 29 May, militants launched 50+ rockets into the town, killing scores of people. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed several people as he detonated himself in a mosque. On Sunday, a bomb went off near the Gomboru market, killing scores more. On Tuesday 2 June, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Gomboru market, killing at 20+ people. In his inaugural speech President Buhari announced that the command centre for security forces would be moved from Abuja to Maiduguri.
